


Training Billy

by Featherly



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Shazam! (2019), Shazam! | Captain Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, God training, Gods, Greek gods, Shazam - Freeform, Shazamily (DCU), Training, olympus, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25895518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Featherly/pseuds/Featherly
Summary: SHAZAM’s powers give him the gift of Zeus’s lightening and his blood in Billy’s veins.He gains the attention of Gods, who invite him to Olympus. When they discover he is a child, they demand he stay for their protection, whether he wants it or not.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 56





	Training Billy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [satoshy12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/satoshy12/gifts).



> TW:
> 
> It gets a little dark in the middle.  
> Attempted suicide.

Billy remembered the wizard, or did he imagine the wizard?

He remembered being chased by that 9th grader, and he remembered getting on the train. They were true things that happened, plausible things that anyone would believe him about if he told them. But a wizard?

He looked around his room, his eyes finally focusing enough to make everything out. His desk with his homework on it sitting in front of his wheels chair, his notebooks, his old possessions in the corner still sitting in that black plastic garbage bag from the orphanage, his wardrobe to the right, his door to the left, his single poster of Superman that Freddy had given him, even though he didn’t want it. 

He got out of his bed, stumbled from the slight light headedness, and walked sloppily towards his door. He peered at the notebook sitting on his desk, opened at a random blank page, and did a double take as he read what was written in a writing that was certainly not his own.  
‘SAY MY NAME.’

His heart beat faster and his breath refused to leave his lungs. It had been a dream, only a dream!  
He stared down at the words, biting his bottom lip. He closed his eyes tightly and opened them again, but the words were still there, as real as he was. 

He kept his door locked, and the window was closed too. No one could have gone in and written it without him knowing, but he wasn’t crazy, so he ignored it and walked to the door. 

He dropped down the stairs, the fat part of his palms pressing into his eye sockets as he enjoyed the cool sensation it gave him. That damn headache was going to be there all day. 

He dropped into the seat next to Darla and asked her “what’s for breakfast?”

“ALPHABET-OOOOS” she screamed, holding her spoon up so that he could see the random letters sitting on it. She zoomed it around like an aeroplane, and her mouth was the airport. She filled her mouth so fully that she looked like a chipmunk.

“Great” said Billy unenthusiastically.  
He poured the cereal and followed it with the last of the milk in the carton. There was so much that it almost overflowed, but he wasn’t about to leave a small amount in there and put it back in the fridge.

He ate slowly and listened as the rest of the family slowly got up. Mary grabbed an apple and said a quick goodbye before leaving, and Pedro heated up some old pancakes from yesterday’s breakfast. He and Darla spoke while Billy stared into his bowl, trying hard to remember the dream, thinking hard about who could have possibly written that line in his notebook. 

“What do your alphabetos say Billy?” Asked Darla. 

He looked up at her, his eyes wide and uninterested as he waited for her to say something else, maybe something more intelligent. 

“Mine says ‘RYTLPOE!” She said enthusiastically. 

Billy took a deep breath before he humoured her. “Mine says” he began, looking back into his bowl to choose a random section of letters to tell her about, but instead he saw this:  
‘SAY MY NAME’

He turned red and stabbed his spoon into the words, jumbling them up. 

Darla and Pedro looked concernedly at him, their mouths open and their eyebrows furrowed. 

“It was a rude word” Billy said cooley. 

Darla giggled and Pedro gave a half smirk. 

They continued eating, but Billy had lost his appetite.  
He took his bowl to the sink and started pouring it down, just as Freddy hobbled into the room. 

“Ello, ello” He said in a terrible British accent. He opened the fridge door and went to pick out the milk, but there was none. “What the—”  
He whirled around to Billy, who was still pouring the milk down the sink. 

“Did you finish all the milk?” Demanded Freddy. 

“Sure did” replied Billy apathetically. 

Freddy looked like he was about to burst. “Well you have to go to get more then!” 

Billy watched him tiredly. “You can come with me then.” 

“I don’t have to get it, you do” said Freddy pompously. 

“It’s the only way I’ll go” said Billy, shrugging.

“Fine! Let’s go now though, I want to eat my breakfast before lunch.”

They walked through the town towards the store and made the transaction without any issues.  
On the way back, they saw the 9th graders.

“Oh shit” said Freddy before he dived into an alleyway. 

Billy joined him, both boys peering out at the slightly older, stronger kids. “We will have to go the long way” said Billy, downtrodden.

“At least we get to keep our teeth that way” said Freddy, already walking towards the other end of the Alley. 

Billy went to follow, but stopped when he noticed the graffitti on the wall. He stared at it, and something in his brain clicked. 

Freddy wandered back to Billy and looked at the graffitti too. “Say my name? What does that mean?” 

“The name” said Billy. His heart started beating faster in his chest, and he remembered.  
Without raising his voice, he said it. “Shazam.”

Lightning rained down on him and struck him on the head. He felt a euphoric burst of adrenaline, akin to the first time he tried a blunt earlier that year on his 12th birthday. He felt an electricity flow through every single vein and nerve in his body like a cold, pleasant shiver, felt every muscle in his body expand and change.  
He felt himself lift of the ground, heard Freddy’s yell, and when he opened his eyes again his headache was gone, and he felt incredible. Better than he had ever felt in his life.  
It happened in slow motion for Billy, but to anyone else it happened as quickly as a lightning strike.

Somewhere far away, in the legendary land of Olympus, the Gods felt Billy’s change too. 

**

The dust settled around Billy, Shazam, and Freddy stared wide eyed. “Billy?” He asked unsurely, timidly. 

Billy was looking at his hands, then at his torso, then in his pants. “It’s me” he said, “what happened? I feel great suddenly.”

“You don’t look like you...” 

Billy turned to the graffitti again to see that it was now just a blank wall. “I said the name.”

“Shazam!” Said Freddy, looking hopefully into the sky. “SHAZAM!” He repeated, but nothing happened. “How come you get powers and I dont” He asked childishly.

“Because I met the wizard... he chose me.” Billy turned his hand so it was palm up and was shocked to see that the electricity was still buzzing pleasantly on his hand. 

“Can you show him to me too?” Asked Freddy hopefully. 

“He’s dead” said Billy. “I think I have to say the name again to change back.”

“Well can you beat those 9th graders up first? I don’t want to go the long way. It hurts my armpits.” Freddy shuffled his crutches to emphasise his point. 

“No need” said Billy, peering around the corner where the boys had been, “they’re gone now.” 

Freddy looked too, and Billy said the name again, “Shazam!” 

They walked home again, Freddy enthusiastically talking at Billy about his new plans for what to do with Billy’s powers, and Billy listened happily, excited to start using them for good. 

The day was spent at school, with a math test and a new English assignment (pick a book and talk about it, who gives a crap?) and when it was over, Billy was ready. 

They filmed and trialed all of Billy’s potential powers, and when it started getting dark, and the street lights started coming on, it was time to change back and go home.  
“We will try more tomorrow” said Billy when Freddy had said ‘just one more’ for the 11th time. 

Freddy smiled and patted Billy on the back, and when they got home they went to bed. Freddy was thinking of all the other powers they had to see if Billy had, and Billy’s headache returned with a vengeance, so he went to sleep as quickly as he could. 

The next afternoon, after school, Freddy and Billy went to the abandoned skate park that no one went to any mo since that kid died there.  
They discovered that Billy had flight that night, and the next they discovered that he could not only run fast, but run forever.  
The day after that, a God appeared before him. 

It was a simple lightening strike, one so close that they noticed him straight away, even though he appeared behind them. 

“Whoa—” Yelled Freddy, tripping over his crutch into a messy pile on the ground. In seconds, Shazam was between him and the new addition, ready to fight if he had to. 

“Who are you?” Demanded Shazam dangerously. 

The man coughed once and said “Name’s Hermes. I was sent by Zeus to collect you.” 

“Collect me? What do you mean collect me?” Asked Shazam sceptically, glancing at Freddy who watched them with bated breath. 

“It shouldn’t take long, you can be back by dinner. Zeus just wants to see you and make sure we’re on the same side.” 

Shazam and Freddy looked at each other, eyes wide and excited.  
“Zeus wants to meet me? But why me? I—” And before he could ramble on any more, “it would be an honour.” 

He bowed to the god of trade and wealth, who indicated for Shazam to take his arm so they could travel. 

“I’ll see you at home, okay Freddy?” 

Freddy waved happily with a smile on his face as Shazam and Hermes disappeared in a flash of lightening. The dust around him settled and he was all alone. He hobbled back towards his home, and didn’t see Billy again for 5 years.

**

Shazam and Hermes appeared in the middle of a large amphitheatre. Around them were soft clouds, and behind them was a large marble structure the size of a mansion. 

“If you will follow me, please” said Hermes, walking up the steps. He opened the door and held it for Shazam, who walked in on legs like jelly. 

Hermes walked in the lead, though there wasn’t too far for them to go. He could see one other room, quite large by the looks of it, at the end of a short hallway. They walked into it, and around them were the other 13 gods of Olympus on giant marble thrones carved into the ground. 

“You know why we have brought you here, new God?” Asked a woman on the tallest throne. 

Shazam looked at each god in turn, then shook his head. 

“You are nervous” stated a big beefy man two to her right. 

“Well, yes. I don’t know why you wished to see me.” Shazam was nervous, his voice quaking after every few words. How stupid of him to go with Hermes. 

“It is because” began the man to the immediate right of the woman, “my blood runs through your veins. You are not only a God, but a son of Zeus. We wish to see your abilities, to judge your heart, and ensure that you will carry the title with dignity.”

“...oh” said Shazam, taken aback. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but he was glad that the reason he was there was an easy one.

“Our names from myself and to my right are Hera, Zeus, Posidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Artemis, Hermes, Dionysus, Apollo, Demeter, Hestia, Hephaestus, Athena, and Hades. What do they call you?” 

Shazam didn’t want to say the name. He didn’t want to turn back into a boy yet. “I can’t say the name. I’ll turn back into my other self if I do. Won’t you hear of my powers first?” 

The Gods turned to Zeus and awaited his answer. He fluttered his hand as if to say ‘as you wish,’ and so Shazam began.  
He hovered off the ground, and they watched him impassively. He conjured up lightening in his hand, and their faces showed impression. He dropped to the ground and ran once around the room to show his speed, stopping exactly where he had started. The Gods applauded, and then he ran around the room 400 times without stopping, in under 2 seconds. The Gods were standing now, all except for Zeus and Hera.  
He lifted the table in the centre of the room above his head with one hand and dropped it carefully before him. Another applause rang out, and Zeus considered him. 

“Any other properties?” He asked in a bored tone. 

Shazam looked at him with a set look on his face. Was he not impressed? 

“I have wisdom beyond my years” he stated, “and courage only one other shares.” 

Hera considered him too. “All you have shown us, we have seen all of it before. What makes you... special?” 

Shazam’s expression dropped. They weren’t impressed. “My abilities are common, as they are taken from a wizard. I have the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus,” he nodded appreciatively towards the man on the second tallest throne, “the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. From all of those, I become...”  
He didn’t want to say it. What would they think of a boy so young having the responsibilities of a God? But there was no way around it. 

“From all of those I become Shazam.”  
As predicted, a lightening bolt hit him, and he became Billy again. 

The Gods gasped, Aphrodite almost fainted in her chair. 

“How old are you child?” Demanded Zeus. 

“I’m 12 sir” replied Billy, perturbed by the responses of those around him. 

“A child, a little boy” squeaked Aphrodite, as if she had never heard of such a thing. 

Hera leaned forward in her throne, squinting, contemplating. “Have you any of these abilities in your current form?” She asked him. 

“Well, no. I’m just like any other kid.”  
He looked around the room, knowing he was losing them. They were talking amongst themselves, ignoring him.  
“But I’m powerful when I say Shazam.” He turned back into the powerful version of himself again, what he hoped was a winning grin plastered on his face.

“Reveal the boy again” said Hera in a stern voice.

“Shazam” said Billy quickly. He looked up at her with unintentional puppy dog eyes. He looked younger than 12 in that moment. 

The Gods stared down at him, the feeling that he had ruined his chances with them pressing down on him.  
He looked down at his feet and shuffled from side to side. He started sweating and his hands became uncomfortable wherever he put them. 

“My blood runs in your veins” confirmed Zeus. 

Billy nodded. “Yes, it does sir.” 

“You will stay here.”

Billy’s head snapped up at Zeus’ words. He had to have heard incorrectly. He couldn’t stay there...  
“I can’t stay Zeus, I’m sorry.”

“You have no choice, my child. Until you are of age, you will learn from the gods to use your powers as we do.”

Billy pinched his arm, sure that he had to be dreaming. His heart hurt as the weight of the God’s words twisted inside him. It was worse than the time when his old foster carer stepped on the gerbil his only friend had given him, but the feeling was the same.  
“No! Take me home now.” 

“We can’t Billy, don’t you understand?” Asked Aphrodite, her voice sultry but strong, “you can’t leave here until we are sure you can take care of yourself as a God.”

Billy stuttered through his dry throat, “I’m not a God. I just have God-like powers!” 

“You don’t” said Hera sternly, cleary losing her patience, “You’re a little boy. Your other self has these powers, but he is not you. You must stay here and learn to be a God in any form.” 

Billy felt his heart stop. He was just a kid, he didn’t have these powers as himself!  
“That isn’t possible! I’m just a normal human kid, what do you want from me!?” He demanded, his voice higher than usual. 

“My blood is in your veins” said Zeus with authority, “you have the powers. You will go home with my former wife, Leto, goddess of motherhood. She will be kind and loving to you, but she will not train you. Who were your powers derived from again?”

Billy responded, listing the names of the Gods that made up his name, still believing that he was dreaming.  
He fell asleep at the skate park, and when he woke up Freddy would be near him, and all of this ‘Gods’ mess would have been a figment of his imagination. 

“They will be your teachers. You will learn from them until you are of age, and you will learn well. Do you understand?” Zeus watched him, everyone watched him, waiting for him to respond.

Billy was shaking in his spot. Everything hurt, and he didn’t see how he was going to get out of the situation. Was he going to be trapped under the watchful eyes of Gods until he was 18?

“We are done here” said Hera, “Leto, please take the boy home.” 

The Goddess Leto appeared in the doorway, “Yes Hera” She said with a bowed head, “right away.”  
She gripped Billy’s shoulders and steered him through the door. He listened to the Gods shuffling from their thrones, heard Aphrodites cry of ‘just a little boy!’, and suddenly his head felt light and he fell like a tonne of bricks. 

**

Billy couldn’t recall a time that he could remember a dream so vividly.  
He could almost smell the somehow dusty and clean smell of the amphitheatre, the strange water like odour of Hermes the messenger, the sweat from his interrogation as the Gods drilled him for all he was.  
He sighed, slowly opened his eyes, and gasped. 

It wasn’t his room. 

He wasn’t in his room. 

It was a wooden house with concrete walls, a hard bed with thin sheets that he decided made him feel cold, and a tiny window that he wouldn’t be able to squeeze through set into the wall just above the bed. Worst of all, there was no door.  
He felt a slight breeze which hit his skin, and he realised that he was wearing shorts like a loincloth, and no shirt. 

“What the fu—”

“Ah” said Leto, “you’re finally awake. Zeus asked me to send for him when you woke up, so please allow me a moment to do so,” and she left the room again. 

Billy peered through the window, desperate to see where on Earth he was, but all he saw was a heavy white fog, as if he were above the clouds and not on Earth at all.

Leto returned and startled Billy who twisted to face her, his heart thumping painfully, as if it wanted nothing more than to escape from his body.

“Where the hell am I... and where are my clothes!?” Demanded Billy, gesturing to his naked upper half.

“You’re in my home,. Zeus will be here shortly for your first training day.”

“Training day” asked Billy, his voice wavering, “training for what?” 

“To be a God” Leto answered simply. 

Billy had a million questions, but he didn’t know how to ask them. The powers ran through Shazam, not Billy...  
“SHAZAM!” He yelled out, spreading his arms as he waited for the lightening, but none rained down on him.  
He looked around nervously and said the old Wizard’s name again, but there was still no effect. “What the... why has...” 

“Zeus controls lightening, remember?” Said Leto, an amused smirk creasing into her cheek. 

“You kidnapped me, you realise that—”  
Billy was interrupted by the intimidating presence of Zeus, who took up the entire space in the huge doorway. “Come.” 

Billy stared wide eyed, his mouth open. Zeus spoke in a voice that demanded respect, and submission. Like a puppet on strings, Billy stood and walked towards him.  
The god turned and headed for the front door, strutting in a way Billy had never seen, and couldn’t help but admire. The God’s shoulders were broad and beautiful... could his ever be like that? Billy Batson’s, not Shazam’s... 

“We start with strength” said Zeus, and it was like being shaken from a comfortable sleep. Beside Zeus was an even bigger, even stronger man, a God that could only be—

“Hercules” said the new addition, nodding curtly in Billy’s direction.  
Billy nodded, as if the fact were obvious to him. He looked at Zeus, awaiting instructions (but why... he didn’t want to be there, he didn’t know why they had banned him from leaving their world until he was an adult, or he did understand because it was explained... he wanted to go home.)

“Your first training day is with Hercules here. I will be watching from a distance. Train hard Billy Batson.” Zeus bowed to Billy and walked away, but Billy didn’t see where he went. 

“We start here boy” said Hercules, indicating an axe beside him. 

“You want me to cut down a tree?” Asked Billy, boded already.

“Close” replied Hercules. He put his hand out to gesture to the Forrest beside him, and Billy wanted to scream. 

“Yeah... no thanks.” Billy turned around and started walking away, so Hercules grabbed his shoulder, twisted him with ease, put the axe in Billy’s hands, and shunted him in the direction of the Forrest.

“The sooner you start, the sooner you will be done.” Hercules watched him with his arms folded over each other, an impassive expression on his face. 

Billy stared at the daunting woods. “How many do I have to cut down?” 

“All of them” replied Hercules. 

Billy looked at him fsearchingly for a sign that he was joking. When he found none, he stepped up to the first tree. He looked into the distance between the trees, where it got so dark from the dense Forrest that he couldn’t even make out the form of any one tree. It was a huge Forrest, that he wouldn’t be able to cut down all of.  
Perhaps one tree a day?

Billy swung the axe, splintering the wood of the nearest tree. He swung it over and over, and in around an hour he had almost finished cutting down his tree.  
He wiped his brow, and turned back to Hercules when it dropped down beside him. He rubbed his sore arm and dropped the axe.

“Pick it up” said Hercules, his voice stern. 

Billy cocked his head. The tree was down, wasn’t he done? “You want me to do another tree?”

Hercules nodded once and Billy did as he said. He cut down another tree, then another, and another, and another, and another. He started chipping into a tree, his legs threatening to collapse underneath him. At the halfway point, his knees buckled, and the axe dropped by him.  
“Whoa—” he yelled and he crashed onto his side, throwing up the dirt around him with a grunt as he sprawled onto the ground. 

Every inch of his body hurt, his arms had lost all feeling. 

“You are done” said Hercules, stepping away so Zeus could step forward. 

“Thank you” said Zeus as he collected Billy into his arms like a bride. He looked down into Billy’s tired face, his dark hair pulled back from his face to show the dark circles underneath his eyes. “You did well” He consoled. 

Billy looked up into his face as they walked, though Zeus didn’t look down at him again until they got back to Leto’s home. Zeus’s eyes were the same colour of the sky. 

“Home already?” Asked Leto as Hercules walked into the house. 

Zeus didn’t say reply to her.  
He walked into Billy’s new room and placed him carefully on top of the uncomfortable bed, as if he were a fragile vase and not a little boy. 

“Hurts” squeaked Billy, flinching when he tried to lift his arm off the bed. 

“Relax” Zeus said. He stroked Billy’s hair until the boy fell asleep, and after he left he wasn’t sure why he did it. It was some paternal part in him that he had forgotten about and had honestly thought was lost. 

Billy slept through the night, and when he woke up in the morning, he thought his arms were going to fall off.  
He groaned as he sat up, but he didn’t get out of the bed. It hurt him too much. 

“Billy?” Called Leto.

Billy turned his head and saw her appear in the doorway. She moved closer to him, her smell clean like violets. 

“Zeus has arrived to collect you.”

Billy sighed, stared up at the roof, and shook his head slightly from side to side. 

She moved into the roof and sat down next to him, her hand tenderly rubbing his shoulder. “I know, he’s working you so hard, isn’t he? It’ll be worth it though. Promise.”  
She tapped him on the chest and said “come on. Time to go.”

Billy rolled out of the bed and limped towards Zeus.  
Zeus nodded to him and walked away. Billy followed in a limp, trying his hardest to keep up. 

“I’m not cutting down more trees am I?” He asked, the whine in his voice very obvious. 

Zeus chuckled and said “no, not until next week when you continue with. Hercules.” 

Billy’s heart slumped. Next week?  
He wondered if Freddy was missing him, if his parents had already put in a missing persons report, if he were ever going to get home. 

They walked into the amphitheatre where Billy had first met the Gods. It was clear of its thrones, and inside there was only one God.  
“Mercury” confirmed Zeus. 

Mercury stepped forward and bowed to Zeus. “The boy?”

“Mercury, this is Billy Batson. His other form has your speed, but his current one does not.” Zeus spoke as if Billy weren’t in the same room, which made Billy feel uncomfortable and a little hurt. 

“Mmhm” said Mercury, his eyes scanning up and down Billy’s half naked form. “I’ll see what I can do” he said in his silky voice. 

Billy would have been a little more upset if he weren’t so tired and sore. 

“Over here Billy” said Mercury in his strange silky voice, pointing to the ground near him.  
Billy stumbled over to him and stood behind the line on the ground that Mercury was indicating.  
“Run around the room Billy” 

Billy looked at Mercury as if he had sprouted another head. He did as he was asked, even though his legs screamed at him. He did as the Gods asked, and why? Painful thoughts ran through his head as he ran around the room, and when he got back to the line he leaned over his knees, completely out of breath. 

“Race me” said Mercury.  
Billy looked at him questioningly. When Mercury said “go” he ran, and Mercury was back beside him before he could take more than a step. 

“I can never beat you!” Said Billy, trying to hide his frustration. 

“Not yet you couldn’t.”

Billy’s sore legs were screaming at him, but when Mercury said “AGAIN!” Billy went. 

It was only half an hour when Billy had to stop, when his nose bled and his hearing started to go.  
He fell to his knees, his eyes unfocused as if concussed. 

“Billy?” Came Zeus’ voice. He moved a finger in front of the boy’s face, up and then down to see if he would follow it. When he didn’t, Zeus took Billy in his arms again and held him in an embrace when he walked back towards Leto’s house. “Next week, Mercury” said Zeus.  
Mercury bowed them out, his pompous demeanour never leaving him once. 

Billy felt hot from running, and his head wanted to submerge itself in icy waters. The feeling of Zeus’s skin on his own wanted to make him throw up from how hot he felt. 

“How are you my boy” asked Zeus, as if he had read Billy’s mind. 

“S’ hot” he managed to say. He drifted in and out of consciousness, and when Zeus twisted a rag of water into his mouth and droplets rained down, Billy drank greedily, as if he had never drank anything in his life. 

He moaned absently and threw a hand to his forehead, the coolness of his fingers please not on the resonating heat of his face.  
Zeus grabbed his hand and started leading it, but the second his fingers left his head Billy was struggling to pull them back.

“Trust me” said Zeus in that gruff voice that made women swoon. He commanded compliance, so Billy complied. 

His hand dipped into a bowl of water, and when he brought it to his head again the cooling was pleasant in a way he couldn’t describe. He moaned, even though he didn’t mean to.

“How much more of this?” Asked Billy, almost inaudible. 

“Until you are of age” he clarified, dipping the rag back into the water and patting at Billy’s head.

Billy removed his hand and let the God pat at his forehead with the damp cloth. He felt Zeus brush his hair from his face, admired how soft his hands were. He had expected them to be rough, like a burned callus.

“That’s more than five years away” said Billy. His eyes became half lidded. He had never felt more sore or tired in his life. 

Billy didn’t know what happened, but he woke up in his bed the next afternoon.  
He stumbled from the bed, his arms less sore than they had been, his legs as sore as they had been the previous day. 

“Are you ready for today’s training?” Asked Leto, appearing beside him. She licked her thumb and rubbed the dirt off his neck. 

“What is it” asked Billy, flailing her hand away. 

“You will see” said Zeus, leaning against the doorframe. Billy looked at his own feet, a sense of guilt though he had done nothing wrong. 

He followed Zeus without another word, Zeus feeling grateful that the boy, his blood son, was already learning. 

“Who am I seeing today?” He asked sadly. He didn’t believe he could handle any more tests of his strength. He was already hurting so much...

“Me” replied Zeus. 

Billy felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine.

They walked past the amphitheatre, around the Forrest, and up the side of a mountain where stairs were carved. Billy was able to ignore his pain in exchange for the breath-taking view, as all of Olympus stretched out far below him.  
“Wow” he breathed out, and his eyes didn’t peel away until they reached the top. 

In front of him were two boulders, both large enough for them to sit on, which they did. 

“Watch carefully” said Zeus, leaning towards Billy. He held out his palm and focused, his eyes staring right at it, and flexed his fingers. When he did, lightening crackled in his palm, gradually becoming larger and larger bolts. He thrust his palm to the skies and the clouds connected to his hand with a giant lightening bolt. With his hand above his head, he plucked a lightening bolt in his hand.

He held the bolt out to Billy, who took it tentatively. “That was beautiful” he said whimsically, looking from the bolt to Zeus.  
He flipped the lightening over in his hands and passed it back to Zeus, who crushed it between his hands into non-existence. 

“Your turn” said Zeus. 

Billy raised his eyebrows and stretched his fingers, staring at them. “You’re joking right?”

Zeus chuckled again, and put his hands onto Billy’s. He stared straight into the boy’s eyes and said “My blood runs through your veins Billy Batson. You have my powers as yourself, and you will learn to channel them, eventually. It starts with trying.”

Zeus’ hands fell out of Billy’s.  
Billy closed his eyes and tried to ‘channel his energy’ to his hand. He opened his eye again, and saw that his hand was shaking with his strenuous attempt to conjure lightening in his hands, but after a minute to no avail, nothing happened.  
He looked at Zeus, asking for a hint without opening his mouth. 

“Cross your legs” said Zeus. 

Billy had a momentary panic that he would fall out of his strip of clothing, but did as he was asked.

“Close your eyes” instructed Zeus, “and think of power. Think of your body and it’s change. Think of lightening.” 

Billy did this, but felt ridiculous. He could feel himself going red from the embarrassment.  
“Nothings gonna happen” he said. He stood there, shuffling his feet, waiting for Zeus to speak.  
When he didn’t reply, he looked up into the God’s face. 

Zeus was staring back at him, and Billy resisted the urge as a shudder threatened to shake his spine.  
“Continue” said Zeus. 

Billy felt ridiculous as he pulsed different parts of his body, waiting for a spark or a pulse, anything! But after a frustrating half hour there was still nothing. 

“Are we done yet?” Billy asked. 

Zeus chuckled and shook his head. “Close your eyes. Focus.”

Billy groaned and did as he was told.  
He sat on the rock all day, and when the sun was starting to set, Billy was close to an emotional breakdown. After a day of sitting on a rock, his arse was sore, and his mind was reeling, thinking not about the reason Zeus had brought him to the top of the rock, but of the life he had been forced to leave behind.

“We are done for today” said Zeus caringly. He stood and walked back down the mountain, and after a moment, Billy followed. 

Billy lay in bed that night staring at the roof. Sleep eluded him like the memories of his Mom, his real Mom. He had thought about her for around an hour that day, mixed in with those he missed, and those who wouldn’t be missing him.  
He felt unloved, like a product for the Gods to use to their will. He wanted to go home. 

He listened to Leto humming to herself in the next room, the slight dimness of the candle moving with her further and further away until Billy couldn’t see it anymore, and he was submerged into pitch blackness.  
He lay on his back, thinking about the event of the day, about how much of a failure he was.  
He felt the tears dropping from his eyes, but didn’t bother trying to wipe them away. He was too tired. He had been there for less than a week, but he was already tired. 

**

Like the previous days, Billy followed Zeus Back to the amphitheatre where another God stood. 

“Atlas” he said, putting his hand out to Shake Billy’s. They did so, and Billy felt dread.  
“Begin running” he said. 

Billy did so, running slowly to keep his stamina going. He didn’t know how long he was going to last, but he was grateful when Atlas didn’t tell him to go faster. He could run at his own pace, and it was good enough. 

Billy ran for ten minutes or so, and slowed to a walk. He walked, and he walked, and he walked. He walked for hours, he didn’t stop to eat or drink, and after 8 hours, he slowed even more to a crawl as his legs gave out. He stopped after the 9th hour, crawling to a stop and collapsing into the dirt.  
“Get up, continue moving. It is for your own good.”

Billy summoned all of his willpower and returned to his numb legs, walking again. He walked for an extra two hours, but dropped like a tonne of bricks.  
Still conscious, all of his body’s water leaked from his eyes, but he didn’t shudder or make any noise to show that he was crying. 

“Get up. Please.” Atlas didn’t sound impatient. Billy could have sworn there was some sympathy in the Gods voice. 

Billy didn’t respond. His sore legs from Mercury’s training was nothing compared to the stamina training of Atlas, and Billy didn’t believe that he could take much more of the training. He didn’t think he could do any more at all. 

“Up, Billy” said Atlas.

Billy felt Atlas kneel beside him. The God lifted Billy’s right arm and put it around his neck, raising, lifting Billy from the dirt with all of his efforts. Billy groaned, and when Atlas had I’m set on his feet, the boy howled in pain. His right leg buckled under him, and Atlas was almost carrying him until Zeus took Billy’s left side and helped the boy to the door. 

“You did well today Billy” Said Atlas encouragingly. Billy grunted involuntarily, And Atlas accepted it as his reply.  
At the door, Atlas removed Billy’s arm from his neck and left Zeus to assist the boy in hobbling back to Leto’s house.  
“I want to go home” said Billy tiredly. 

“You’re almost there” replied Zeus.” 

“No, I mean REAL home. With Freddy, and Pablo. I just... I want to go home.” Crying was lame. Crying was for little girls and Grandmas, so why did he keep doing it? 

“You are too special to be there” said Zeus, speaking as if what he were saying were the highest praise Billy could receive. Maybe it would have been to anyone else, but to Billy it was just more bullshit. 

Zeus dropped Billy into his bed and turned to leave. Before he left, he said “you will be a great God Billy Batson... in time.” He walked through the door and didn’t turn back.

Billy lay on the bed, staring at the roof again. His legs were numb, the blood circulating unpleasantly. He moved them haphazardly, tried curling his toes, and cringed from the pain. The sun was already going down outside, and after some deliberation, Billy fell asleep.  
Not for too long though.  
He didn’t want to lose his nerve. 

**

Billy woke up in the darkness. He had always had a talent for waking up at exactly the time he wanted. He had never set his alarm in all of his years, because he didn’t need to. He could think ‘I want to sleep for two hours’ and would wake up exactly two hours later. 

‘Too bad that isn’t a power to impress the Gods’ thought Billy. 

He lobbed his feet onto the floor, the pins and needles stabbing him.  
He leaned on his feet, and was standing within minutes. 

Billy hobbled out the front door and walked carefully in the darkness. He didn’t want to wake anyone up, and he didn’t dare say Shazam. The lightening would either trigger Zeus’s creepy trace on him, or disturb everyone in Olympus. 

He walked tentatively towards the place where Zeus had taken him to make a fool of himself as he failed to conjure up Zeus’s powers. The reflection of the moon showed the tops of the trees below, and Billy was happy to be in a place that looked so beautiful.  
The rest of it though...

He trekked up the stairs and reached the top after two hours, a break every five steps or so as his thighs screamed for rest. 

He had to get up there though. 

He followed the trail, all the way to the top, where the two rocks still sat, and probably would sit for millions and millions of years to come.  
He glanced at them for a second and walked past them, all the way to the edge. 

His toes dipped over the edge of the cliff, and below he saw a deep drop over three hundred metres down, and a patch of dirt where he wanted to hit. 

Billy took a deep breath in, then out, then in, then out. He was hyperventilating, but he didn’t notice.  
He closed his eyes and stiffened his body, his left foot hovering over the drop. He clenched his fists and leaned forward. His other foot left the ledge. 

As he dropped, he cried harder than he had ever cried in his life.

It was only a metre or so before a huge manly hand wrenched him backwards painfully by the scruff of his neck, and as Billy shook and screamed from the leap he had failed to take, Zeus held him close. He hugged Billy, and Billy grabbed at his arms, trying to get Zeus to hold him tighter, to have one person in the world love him, to convince him that everything was going to be okay and that he wouldn’t feel that intense pain he had felt every day from his ‘training’ anymore. 

Billy threw his hand into his mouth and bit down on it to stop himself from screaming out into the night, teeth marks denting his bleeding palm. 

Zeus stroked Billy’s hair as if he had done it a hundred times before, his other hand refusing to let the pre-teen go as it grabbed him across the chest.  
He stopped his stroking and rubbed Billy on the shoulder sympathetically. 

They stayed there, Billy being rocked backwards and forwards, breathing fast and hard, his lungs sore and his head hurting.  
“I d-don’t w-want to be sh-shazam anymore”stuttered Billy.  
As he said the name lightening rained down towards him and Zeus caught it in his hand before it could hit and change Billy, absorbing it in two seconds.

“It’s going to be difficult at first” said Zeus consolingly, “but the more you do it, the easier it will be.”

Billy’s crying subsided within minutes, until it was just that awful periodical shudder that he couldn’t suppress. 

“It’s time to go back to Leto” whispered Zeus into Billy’s ear. 

Billy’s breathing was calmer, but still too fast.  
Zeus hoisted Billy up so the boy’s arms were around his neck, and his legs wrapped around Zeus’s waist. Billy pressed his head into the broad chest, soaking it with his tears. 

As Zeus carried him back down the mountain, Billy turned his head to see the view. 

Such a beautiful view. 

**

The following morning, once Leto had cooed over Billy and how regretful she felt for not realising how depressed he was, Zeus lead Billy back up the mountain where an old man sat on the boulder Zeus had accupied days prior. He was the oldest man Billy had ever seen in his life. 

“Oho, you must be Billy Batson” said the old man, holding his hand out.  
Billy took the man’s hand and allowed himself to be lead him to the opposite boulder, where Billy sat and stared at his feet with his puffy red eyes sadly.

“Do you know who I am?” He asked. 

Billy shook his head. It could be the courageous Achilles, or the Wise Solomon, and Billy didn’t want to assume. 

“What if I told you that I fear lions?” 

Billy smiled despite his misery. “You’re Solomon.” 

The old God nodded, “Yes my boy. I will teach you all I know of making decisions, because that’s all we have in life. Choices.”

Billy waited for him to continue, his head ache subsiding somewhat. Solomon’s presence and words were somehow soothing.

“Zeus told me of your choices from last night.”

Billy’s head snapped up, his eyes wide. “It doesn’t matter” he said quickly. 

“Of course it does” he said, standing up. “It tells me that you are miserable, that you haven’t been worked so hard in your 12 years, that you are driven by emotions”

“I’m not emotional” said Billy, his heart thumping faster now.

“You are, as you should be at your age. You are skilled in few things, your powers in your other form were given to you because everything you have has been given to you. You don’t earn anything because you have never needed to before, and now you have been forced to earn your powers and you would rather throw your life away.  
You jumped last night because you have been sad for so long. You’ve been neglected for so long. You haven’t felt true love. You are emotional, because you can’t stand the thought of being disappointed again. You have had a failure of a week filled with pain and no gratification. Another downfall and the last event to push you over the edge.”

Billy hung his head. “Emotions are for girls” he said, and even to his own ears it sounded childish. The old man was uncomfortable to listen to. What had been soothing words had quickly become a lecture, and Billy glanced to the cliff where he could run and jump again.  
Would Zeus save him again if he did?

Solomon studied him, his eyes scanning every inch of Billy. He noticed the look in his eye as if reading his thoughts, but Solomon knew that Billy wasn’t going to jump again. He was wise. “There was once a man with no emotions” he began, curling his beard around his long fingers, “his family died in an accident, and his partner was murdered days later. His dog got a disease and died. His friends asked him if he was okay, and when he said he was, his friends left him to his own devices. He was the loneliest man in the world, and he died alone.  
Do you think this man is you Billy?” 

Billy didn’t react for a moment, and then he shook his head slowly. 

“Emotions are a beautiful thing that we can’t live without. You are emotional Billy, and it is a good thing.”

Billy felt comfortable immediately despite himself. It was like a free therapist, and he didn’t have to run around the amphitheatre, so he sat there and listened to Solomon for hours, learning to be wise.  
The sun began to set, and Billy felt at peace for the first time since he had arrived in Olympus. 

“So you see, Billy Batson, 5 years is nothing to an immortal. Your time here is so short, and I feel a deep regret that we shall part so soon.”

Zeus coughed from the pathway, and Solomon glanced over at him. “Oh, all right!” He said, standing up with the help of his staff, “we are done for today Billy. I’ll see you again next week. Be good for Achilles tomorrow!”

“I will” replied Billy eagerly, “thank you Solomon.” 

He followed Zeus back down the mountainside, elated for the first time. It was like being in a trance where the hypnotist had told him to be happy. 

As he lay on the uncomfortable bed that night, he felt something he never thought he would feel again.  
It was Solomon’s words that had rejuvenated him and made life seem... almost good. He had been plucked by the Gods, trained, protected, a minuscule amount of time for them and eventually, for Billy too. He thought about himself 5 years from then, sitting with Freddy, recounting his training and hearing of Freddy’s high school years.  
He couldn’t wait, and as he lay there in his bed, he couldn’t suppress the hope he felt. 

**

He met Achilles the next day, who made him hold a spider on his palm. In time he held it, and Achilles replaced it with a larger spider, and then one that was bigger than that one.  
Soon the spiders were so big that Billy couldn’t hold them anymore, and as Billy learned to fight them, they became more deadly.  
After being bitten once, Billy’s training was finished for the day. 

The following day, he was free of any more training for that week. He spent the day nursing his spider bite atop the mountainside. He changed his bandages as he sat on the edge of the cliff, his other leg dangling down over the drop he had wanted to take. 

Zeus watched him from the base of the mountain, concern thumping his heart against his rib cage. The boy looked relaxed, but he couldn’t remove the fear he felt. 

Billy pinned the bandage and stood up again. He peered over the edge, then stepped away. He sat on the boulder and thought. Solomon had, in only a few hours, changed his entire perspective. He no longer thought of the mother who didn’t love him, or the pain running for hours had inflicted on him. He thought of the flower growing on the edge of the trees, the wind howling over the lake you could barely see in the distance, the birds shuffling their feathers as they tried to find a more comfortable sleeping position. 

He focused everything, and clenched his fingers automatically into a fist. He breathed carefully, thinking deep and not thinking at all simultaneously. Zeus felt a slight disturbance from the boy, a rush of electricity around Billy’s beating heart. 

“He’s already finding his power” said Zeus out loud to nobody, pride compressing his voice to a gravelly whisper.

**

It took his only a year to match Solomon’s wisdom. He didn’t notice when it happened, his wisdom only surpassed by his modesty (a side of him given by Leto who was like a mother to him by the end.) 

When he had cut down the whole Forrest and there was nothing left but the thin sticks of the new trees, Billy was as strong as he could possibly be. Along with the trees he had trained in the conventional way, with Hercules as his guide. By the end, he was at his fitness’ peak. 

His stamina improved quickly, and soon he could run, climb, swim, and commit himself to projects for hours and hours, to a point where he never needed to stop. By the end, he could outmatch Atlas.

It was three years when Billy made lightening with his hands, and once he got the hang of it, it took another two years to match the powers, and he only got stronger. By the end, he could conform lightening to his will as well as Zeus himself. 

His courage was powerful enough for Billy to fear nothing, not even death, as he had been threatened to a point of many times in his years training to be a God. By the end, he could look the most terrifying monster in the face and scoff. 

His speed took the longest to control.  
He felt slow and stupid every time he tried, until his stamina improved. With his stamina, his speed increased until something inside him clicked around four years in, and he was racing, actually racing, against Mercury. They were evenly matched, and in the last year Billy beat him 50% of the time. By the end, even flash wouldn’t be able to keep up. 

By the end, billy wasn’t even discernible from SHAZAM, or else he was even bigger and more powerful as himself. 

The week before he left, he fell back into a depression. He didn’t want to leave. He had spent five years in the comfort of Olympus, Zeus as his friend and mentor, along with the other Gods he considered brothers. 

The night before his 18th birthday, he cried.  
“You leave tomorrow” said Zeus. They stood atop the mountain they had scaled together over many days a week for five years, two metres apart. 

“It’s going to be a new world” he said. He sounded like a child, even though his body was proof of his adulthood, “I won’t even fit in there anymore.”  
He still wore a loin cloth, but there was nothing to cover his godly abs. His hair had been cut by Leto in an uneven way that suited him, and his beard was shaved to the skin so his face stayed smooth and baby-like. His eyes were brighter than they had been at 12 years old, and he looked every part a God as his powers made him.

“You will adapt. Wise people always adapt.” 

Billy smiled proudly, his beautiful bloodshot eyes shining. 

Zeus passed him a parcel wrapped in hide. “Happy Birthday Billy” he said. 

It was the only time any Birthday at all had been acknowledged in Olympus, and though he didn’t know this fact, Billy was grateful. 

Inside was a pair of shorts that fit Billy perfectly, and though they made him look out of place amongst the other Gods, they would make him look normal enough among other humans.  
It wasn’t a very impressive gift, but Billy decided that he would love them forever. 

In the hours before he left, he went to every God who that had helped him get to where he was, but he stayed with Solomon for a while longer.  
“Do you remember the day we met?” Asked Billy.

“Of course my boy. It was the day after you tried to jump off the cliff.”

“You remember what you told me of choices?” 

Solomon knew where Billy was going with the conversation. “Yes, of course my boy.”

“How do I know if I make the right choice?”

“You don’t” replied Solomon shortly, “you just want me to try to convince you to stay. I won’t though Billy, and that’s my choice.”  
He smiled at Billy who looked downcast.  
“You should get back to Zeus” said Solomon, turning towards the sun, “I believe Hermes will be here soon to return you to the human world.”

There was a moment where nothing happened, then Billy lunged forwards and wrapped his arms around the older man. “I’ll never forget you” he said, and in the moment he sounded 12 years old again. 

“And I won’t forget you either Billy” he replied, returning the hug. 

He shooed Billy away, because if he didn’t he believed he would beg the boy to stay.

Billy walked back up the mountain, back to Zeus.  
“It is almost time” said the God sadly, “you have said your goodbyes?” 

Billy nodded and wiped his wet eyes on his arm. “Leto almost chained me up, and threatened to keep me there forever.” 

Zeus chuckled, “Yes, I’m sure she did.” He opened his arms, and Billy walked into them. He hugged Zeus as if he would never be able to again, and with an awful pain he realised that the notion was completely true.  
No matter what choice he made in life from that moment on, he would never step foot in Olympus again. 

“Thank you” he whispered in Zeus’s ear, “thank you for helping me, especially in the early days. You saved me.”

Zeus let go an pulled back from him, looking deep into Billy’s eyes as he tried to commit the shade of his iris to memory. “I’ll miss you” he said, and right on cue, Hermes appeared.

“Ready Billy?” He asked, his own voice wavering. 

Billy nodded. He couldn’t risk saying anything else. He didn’t think he could handle talking anymore. 

He followed Hermes, and like walking through a portal, they appeared in the human world, right where Hermes had found Billy 5 years prior. 

“I’ll miss ya kid” said Hermes, and after scanning Billy one more time, he returned to Olympus, leaving Billy in the abandoned skate park at midnight. 

**

In the darkness, Billy scanned the area. There was no one around to hear his thumping heart, or see his shirtless form.  
After a moment of deliberation, he went to the police station. 

The light of the room was unpleasant. He was so used to the natural lighting, rising with the sun and accepting a dim candlelight in the darkness that the bright bulbs threatened to blind him. 

“Can I help you sir?” Asked the man at the desk. Underneath the table, he was lightly touching his gun, ready to draw if the crazy shirtless man threatened him.

“Yes” said Billy, “What year is it.” 

He saw the man reach further under the table with one hand, his other moving closer to his receiver sitting on the table. “This is front office, requesting backup” he whispered into it. 

Billy chuckled smugly, a half smirk on his face.  
“Please, What year is this?”

“2019” replied the man. A door opened somewhere further into the station, and two more officers joined the scene, guns held at their side.  
So it had really been 5 years, and not some crazy, long dream.

“Can we help you sir?” Asked a woman to the right. 

“Yes, please. My name is Billy Batson.”

The officers all looked at each other, the same look of dawning comprehension in their expressions. The man sitting at the desk typed Billy’s name into the search engine on his computer, pulling up the missing persons report made by Billy’s foster parents. 

“You’re this kid?” The man asked sceptically, turning the screen to Billy. 

“Yes sir” he replied respectfully.

“Can we ask where you have been?” Asked an officer. 

“You wouldn’t believe me” said Billy, “can you please tell me if my foster parents still live in the same house?” 

The police looked at each other. “Don’t you wanna call them first?” One asked. 

“Oh, yes please” replied Billy. He had quite forgotten that phones existed.  
One handed him the corded phone and he dialed in the number that he had committed to memory.  
It went to voicemail. 

“No one home” he said sadly, “or maybe it’s just too late, though I thought Eugene would be awake still. Perhaps I should see them in the morning.” 

Billy walked out the door to calls of “WAIT!” from the officers, but he didn’t wait for them.  
He strolled around until morning, killing time. He didn’t know what day it was anymore, but as the sun rose he knew what time it was.  
At 7 o’clock, he made his way home, and though he had the courage of Achilles, he still wasn’t prepared for the fear that engulfed him as he stood on the doorsteps to the old foster house. 

What if they didn’t live there anymore? What if they didn’t want him there anymore? What if they sent him away again because he had left him? 

He stood on the doormat that said ‘you’re always welcome!’ and made a fist. He hovered it above the door, and tentatively, he brought it down onto the wood three times.  
Two seconds passed and Billy was deciding if he should run or not, but on the third second the door opened. 

“Hello?” Asked the teenage girl, peering up at the stranger. She blushed at the sight of his abs and soft skin. ‘He has the body of a God’ she thought to herself. 

He stared back at her for a moment, then realisation dawned on him. “Darla?” 

Darlas mouth dropped open and she started shaking with excitement. “Billy?” 

He heard the sound of cutlery dropping behind her, and suddenly hands were coming at him in every direction, pulling him inside the house and trying to be the first to hug him. 

“Mum! Dad! Is Mary still at college?”  
Her absence wasn’t unnoticed, and neither were the two new foster kids watching from the kitchen. 

“Where have you been!” Demanded his foster mother, beating him on the chest as tears poured down her face. 

“How did you get so HOT!” Asked Darla, and Eugene nodded. 

“Still not as nice as my body” said Pedro, who was somehow larger than he had been 5 years prior. 

“Where’s Freddy?” Asked Billy. He was the one he wanted to see the most. 

“Upstairs in bed still... he should be down soon.” His foster mother hugged him again, as if he were going to dissolve at any second. 

Billy hugged them back, and when they asked where he had been again, he told them that the Gods had taken him to train. 

His foster father laughed and hit him on the back, and asked “no, really Billy. We are ecstatic that you are back, but where on Earth have you been?” 

Billy clenched his hand and held it up so they could see it. He had no reason to hide the truth from them. He created sparks in his hand, and the doubt settled in their bodies.  
After a few weeks with Billy there, showing his powers every now and then, their doubt eventually shifted.

“You’ve been gone for so long” said Darla, her cheeks sopping wet with tears. 

Billy smiled at her. “It felt that way for me too.” 

“Billy” came a deep voice from the top of the stairs.  
Billy turned towards them and looked up at Freddy, his heart threatening to beat through his chest. 

“Freddy...”  
In slow motion he climbed, and when he reached the top, he pulled Freddy into a bone crushing hug. 

“I didn’t think you were ever coming back!” Freddy said, staining Billy’s shoulder with tears. He pulled himself back to look at Billy, to really look at him.  
He opened his mouth to say something, but gaped instead, sputtering like a goldfish. He didn’t know what to say: how to apologise for not finding Billy whenever he went searching, how to say he didn’t care anymore that Billy was a superhero, how he only wanted Billy back and safe with him.

“We have some catching up to do” said Billy, brushing his hand on Freddy’s shoulder. 

Freddy bit his bottom lip and nodded. His own 18 years of life hadn’t prepared him for Billy’s return, but he was damn happy that his best friend was finally home. 

**

Billy told Freddy almost everything that had happened. 

He told him every single detail he remembered about his first meeting with the Gods, how Leto had looked after him, how Solomon was so wise and kind, how Mercury was a bit of a dick, how Zeus was like a brother and a father to him. 

He told him everything, except for the one time he had almost ended everything.  
He didn’t tell him, because he was looking back on it and how awful he had felt in the moment, and how stupid he was to actually jump. 

Zeus had told him it would get easier the more he did it. 

His wisdom told him that Freddy had felt exactly the same way at some point in those 5 years gone, but Freddy didn’t have a Zeus to convince him that he would be okay. When it came to life, Billy was happy that Freddy had kept doing it.  
When it came to choices, he was happy Freddy had never stopped looking.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for your request!  
> This story was written from the following prompt from Satoshy12:
> 
> ‘because of his powers he has Zeus’s lightening running through his veins. He gains the attention of the Gods, being a child, and is brought to Olympus where the gods are overprotective of their children’
> 
> This turned out way longer than I thought it would, and it’s longer than any ‘real’ story I’ve tried to write so far. I had fun though!! I didn’t spell check (I wanted to get it up within the week and I’ve already spent way too long on it.)  
> I usually come back to my work to correct it though, so stay tuned if it’s riddled with spelling or grammar errors!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
